Manufacturing Engineer

Help make manufacturing processes easier and more efficient.

What does a Manufacturing Engineer do?

Manufacturing engineers improve processes used to make goods by applying science, math, and engineering design skills to make these procedures take less time and cost less money. You also tweak product designs to eliminate unnecessary expenses, allowing companies to drop their prices without sacrificing quality.

Typical duties of a manufacturing engineer include troubleshooting manufacturing equipment, evaluating production schedules, and implementing quality control standards. You walk the line between increasing a company’s profit and ensuring that its products are the best quality possible. Your goal isn’t to cut corners to make money for businesses. It’s more about finding the sweet spot where they can get the maximum return for putting in the minimum amount of effort. Think of your job as supporting instinctive human nature with engineering principles.

Because there are so many products and so many manufacturing techniques to make those products, you have a lot of options in this profession. If you’re an automotive junkie, for example, you can find a position at a car manufacturing plant. You might observe workers putting cars together and design new equipment that will help them bolt on doors and install seats faster than the current bulky equipment will allow. Or you might recommend design changes that synthesize three smaller parts into one, allowing workers to assemble cars with greater ease.

If you prefer a role with a more human touch, you can specialize in setting up safety programs in manufacturing facilities. In this capacity, you revise training manuals, safety classes, and hazardous equipment-handling procedures to help employers safeguard their most valuable asset—healthy employees.